My Coffee: A case to begin all cases……

 

 

A case to begin all cases:

A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection, that’s all that counts!

A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection. With that of course god’s ultimate gift to mankind “MEMORY”. The world seems so beautiful.

People say memories of the past and anxiety of the future ruins our present. Well, I can’t talk too much about future and pressures as in today’s chaotic world I am one of those blessed individuals whose job so to say is one of the least stressful jobs on earth.

I am a teacher.

I got myself few diplomas, a degree, few certifications and a secure (a term which has become almost obsolete) job in a MNC about 5 years back. I was into the creative art and animation as a hobby for as long as I can remember. For it gave me a peace of mind and a lot of calmness to relax that every inch of tensed muscle in my body. Soon, I had made that hobby my work so I never had to feel the pressure of work again. So I said to myself.

I Left my “secure job” and 3 years had passed. Then one day, I met a young chap (meaning someone of my age, 5 years ago…. That is to say, I was a lot younger and more immature then….and life was good). He came to me and said, “Ananth, I am changing my job. I am shifting back to finance field where I was.” Hmmm…. Another one of my kind, I thought…with that doubt in mind… He continued, “Yes, I know there will be heavy pressure and I won’t enjoy doing it, but at least I will have some respect for what I do but could not handle the pressure of doing a job which especially in India, if more so related to the field of art hardly gets any recognition and respect even from those most close to you.” I told him to sleep over it. Give it some more thought. And not change the field just because he was unable to cope up with the pressure of being related to the field of art. He used to teach and freelance for money, the most important and easily understood term today.

Finally he did not leave the field, but left the job, saying may be some other work environment might cheer him up and provide more mental support to continue what he is doing. He left the job after a lot of convincing and fights with his seniors that he was sure he would not want to continue for personal reasons. He came back home and made few calls and got into another institute with a better pay scale to maybe, just may be help him gain more confidence in talking to his family and friends now that he had a job which was paying him literally as good as an engineer with an MBA or a CA/CS (naming them because even today, these are supposedly the more and most desirable jobs, trust me).

Few days later, while he had got well adjusted to this environment and was getting back home at 11:30pm from Andheri back home he met a kid sitting on the pavement opposite to the well known Leela hotel from where he was just coming out after his corporate presentation. He just stopped for a moment and then rushed back to the kid.

This19 year old was his student from the earlier institute. After a long discussion, this chap realized that after he had left the earlier place it had been 3 months since and still that institution had found none to replace him. Result was the fees from students were collected regularly and those deferring payments were put into defaulters and fined. But there were no sessions happening. There was no faculty.

This kid was a cobbler’s son with a bright & creative mind. So to say had been lured by the famous lines of getting the BIG moolah and glamour that the creative industry was posed to him by those selling it so much that he fought and convinced his dad to arrange for that huge sum for his diploma in animation course as he was somehow convinced that this industry holds for him all the riches and would take him to another level. He would get a pay check of at least Rs.8-10K to start with and sky would be his limit with his abilities and skills. Now he had ended up paying all that he could, his dad was down till his neck in debts and to worsen the case, there were no classes being conducted because of lack of faculties.

So much to say, the course and the infrastructure were anyway not up to the mark. Then both( the sir and his ex-student) tried for a lot of legal ways to help out for refund, but the system was so jacked up that they found themselves being mocked by society more and more and there was no justice at all. His dad, the cobbler died of a heart attack. He had no job and this course was finished by some emergency trainer who had little idea of how to go about with the course and needless to say there was no learning and no job for this kid. He now sits on the streets mending shoes just like his father.

Talk to him about Photoshop and flash, his eyes lit up and then die off with that same speed and intensity. That young chap and trainer came back home that day realizing that he was not just working and he did not just have a job. But as a teacher he had a huge social responsibility of taking good care of a noble profession which is sad to say becoming a faint identity. He now teaches and trains whenever anyone asks him if he has the time and not so just on the basis of monthly fees to the real needy. He has to face societal brunt for that. But at least he sleeps peacefully.

The above story is for any noble profession today. Be it delivering education or something as massively important as saving lives as in a doctor’s job. There are very few doctors’ who take cases without that patient fulfilling the basic formalities of “FEES”.
There have been so many a lives put in stake and so many futures given to shape by these noble professions, but in today’s social pressures, unless there is money involved there is no value for life or knowledge.

We are talking today about nuclear pacts, global warming. But what happened to those who are living at the tip of a life nothing less than a volcano mountain, ready to burst at any point of time. Their only mistake is of being born in a poorer section of the society. Their lives and pains are simply put out with simple lines by big time money makers as “Only the fittest will survive” (I guess they had the privilege of studying Darwin’s theories, “They cannot handle today’s competitive pressure” and only those with power and money will survive.

We close the above mentioned miseries with such simple lines learnt in our MBA class and big corporate chairs not even realizing that in this way we are going against war with our own people. If such noble professions today start refusing service just for the sake of money and if the society supports that, why are we even discussing a green world, a better technology and happy world? All that you do always comes back to you then and there. Life is as simple as that. So if we refuse help knowingly or with pure bliss of ignorance it is going to hit us back some day soon. Life is not just about numbers and targets. It’s about Lives and a smile.

Wouldn’t life be more fun if there were good competition and great learning all around us? Did not we feel happy in school when we were put against a large chunk of students and asked to compete? So why not help everyone raise the bars and lead a life of greater significance. Why not deal with the current misery, bureaucracy and corruption and actually kill the problems at their root cause. I get scores of mails and calls everyday from parents and people asking me where do I put my kid for further studies?
I am not a counselor or someone of that level to advice, so I don’t. I keep numb as even if I did I am sure I would be falling short of places and institutions both big and small to recommend today.

I know so many doctors and teachers today who have refused to render their honest and very much possible services to people because of lack of their ability to pay money. I am not asking you to do charity as all of us need to survive. But only that, do keep in mind that whatever you do, you are affecting someone or the other and what you can decide is HOW you affect them.
Remember, life has a way of balancing itself, what goes will come back. So the next time you decide not to cure a patient or teach a student for the sake of money alone Please think twice. As your decision is not just another corporate rule, it’s a way of life.

You have the power to be true to what you have sworn to do. To make the country a better place is not the government’s duty. It’s those who have given that power to the government to take good care of our HUGE family, our world.

So grow and let grow as it’s not everyone’s privilege to say that all I need today is “A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection, that’s all.” I know the great mentors like the Mahatma and Swami Vivekananda are gone. But a bit of their souls rests in all of us. So let’s try to search and find them, take all the pieces and get them back. That’s possible only if all our heart and minds would act as one. Everyone has come across some day something like this to say, to make a difference, to make impact…. A case to begin all cases. I apologize if I bored you and wasted your precious time with so many words and story but what can I say…… I am paid for it!